Winnipeg Jets Edge The Minnesota Wild 2-1

Ondrej Pavelec bounced back from a forgettable night in Detroit this past Saturday to help the Winnipeg Jets defead the league leading Minnesota Wild in another hard fought and fan fueled game at the MTS Centre on Tuesday night.

The 1st period started with a strong pace from both teams, and Winnipeg began with their usual high pressure forecheck and managed to generate some quality chances on Nicklas Backstrom, but the Helsinki native turned aside all 10 Jets shots.

On the other side of the ice, Ondrej Pavelec was looking to bounce back from a game in Detroit this past weekend when he was pulled after 5 goals on 19 shots, and he came up big on chances from Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Danny Heatley, who both had time in the slot and were shut down by the Winnipeg net minder.

Guillaume Latendresse would take the game's first sit in the sin bin after an interference call, and the Jets found themselves on the power play after both teams going over 14 minutes without a penalty. Minnesota played a tight penalty kill however, and the Jets only managed to muster up 2 shots with the extra man.

A few minutes later, Dustin Byfuglien was called for roughing after using his free arm to work his way to the front of the Wild net, and hitting Greg Zanon in the face. Minnesota did their best to work their puck to the front of the net, but after only being on the power play for 41-seconds, Kyle Brodziak took Jim Slater into the boards hard and was subsequently called for boarding.

The Minnesota penalty carried over into the 2nd period, and the Wild were able to hold on and keep the game scoreless at 1. 2:49 into the second and Chris Thorburn was caught for interference after an offensive zone face-off. With no scoring chances on that power play, Minnesota was granted a 5-on-3 as Tanner Glass was called for tripping. The Wild would finally find the scoreboard as Guillaume took a pass from Mikko Koivu and fired it home to make it 1-0 Minnesota.

Just over 4 minutes later, a grinding Winnipeg shift would work the puck back to Zach Bogosian who fired from the point and scored his 1st of the season to tie the game at 1.

Minutes later, Dustin Byfuglien would fire another puck at Backstrom that would find it's way in, however the goal was called back due to goaltender interference.

Early in the 3rd, Winnipeg and Minnesota would keep up the fast pace of the game that sustained itself throughout the first two frames, which has become a theme for the Jets when they face league-leading teams at home.

With 7 minutes left in the 3rd period, Clayton Stoner fired the puck over the glass in the Minnesota zone, which drew the attention of the referee and Stoner was thrown in the box for delay of game.

At the end of the Jets powerplay, Evander Kane fed a streaking Dustin Byfuglien who one-touched the puck over to Bryan Little who put home his 11th goal of the season to put the Jets on top 2-1.

Minnesota would pull their goalie for the extra man, and during the ensuing pressure, Zach Bogosian drilled Pierre-Marc Bouchard from behind to draw a major penalty and a game misconduct for boarding.

Ondrej Pavelec would bail the Jets out numerous times in the final minute of the game as the Jets held on for a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.